


The Beasts of Hoth

by TypeSomeSenseToMe



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Smut, F/M, I do what I want, I know nothing I regret nothing, Is it romantic? you tell me, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Older Woman/Younger Man, a beast gets slayed and the beasties get laid, no spoilers in tags Yo, probably some violence, read the fic not the tags, reylo au, your rules don't apply here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-22 17:54:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30042498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TypeSomeSenseToMe/pseuds/TypeSomeSenseToMe
Summary: As deep into strange biology as scientists could possibly go, they’d tragically forgotten all about their own, inherent impulses. Their Day of Reckoning had arrived. A grave miscalculation for an unpaired Alpha with an unmated Omega.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 30
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For what you are about to read, please accept my humble apologies. Heh. You may regret reading, I do not regret writing.

Α • β • Ω

The grainy black and white digital scans did nothing to blunt the gruesome nature of the original photographs Ben Solo remembered seeing as a child. Photographs his Uncle Luke Skywalker and his father, Han Solo, had reminisced about in the most chilling of terms. The pictures were souvenirs brought back from a hunting trek through the Ice Plains when they were young men, along with fresh scars and frostbitten toes. Ben had sworn, as an impressionable ten-year-old, looking at the same photo, he could hear the final roar as the fearsome creature fell dead where it lay; lifeless eyes black, short horns curling downward toward its nose, its murky pelt stained dark from its mouth to its chest. Luke had claimed he’d dealt the killing blow.

“The Wampa almost got the better of me,” Luke had said, indicating some silvery scars on his face. “It was him or me. I had no intention of dying that day.”

The other grainy scan his mother had emailed was an image of what Han called a Tauntaun; blinding white, blood-spattered snow surrounded a gutted carcass of an odd-looking creature. Han had claimed that kill.

“You do what you have to do to survive, kid,” his father's enigmatic response when asked about the carnage.

His father and uncle had said the Tauntaun was bipedal, and could be domesticated and trained to be ridden. Their horrific encounters with the legendary beasts of Hoth over so many years ago ended with the deaths of two endangered animals, and at that time, were thought to be the last of their kind. Ben Solo had heard these stories since he was a boy, but the rest of the world had forgotten creatures that hadn’t been seen in more than forty years in the coldest part of the world.

Since, tales of the carnivorous mammalian apex predators like the deadly Wampa still wove their way into modern myths. Especially with the indigenous tribe of Anoat natives living around the remote outpost of Echo Base where Ben bought his supplies and picked up his mail. Horror stories of the unforgiving ice wastes of Hoth were a hotbed of speculation on whether or not the beasts had truly been hunted to extinction. He’d heard recent chatter that precious livestock had been killed and dragged away in the dead of night from surrounding farms.

Ben’s recent drone footage had revealed some interesting activity out on the Ice Plains. No more than blurry photographic evidence to his thinking, but the computer screen’s focus gave him some measure of hopeful intrigue. There was no way to compare them to the antique images Han and Luke had captured so many years before. He needed a second opinion and more field research to be certain he hadn’t imagined his discovery. There weren’t many people willing to go into these places for true scientific field work.

He wasn’t trying to make ground-breaking discoveries out here on the edge of the world. He only wished to work and keep his mind occupied and stay hidden. It was bleak and inhospitable up on Clabburn Range. No one but the wolves ever bothered to sniff around his cabin.

Perhaps he could pass off his findings to someone else who would be more interested in bringing a species back from extinction. The last thing Ben needed in his life was notoriety.

His inquiries to the World Wildlife Preservation Society had given him little help in finding even a cryptozoologist interested in his findings. Cryptozoology was pseudo-science, anyway. He wished to get another studied analysis, but he knew of no other research biologist in the field that specialized in arctic wildlife.

Of course, there wasn’t.

Ben Solo stood alone in that field of study. By design. By choice. By necessity.

Α • β • Ω

> Thu, Dec 10 at 11:10 AM  
>  To: [ b.solo.wb@CorU.net  
>  ](mailto:b.solo.wb@CorU.net) Subject: Re: Second Opinion  
>  From: [ ArmitageHux@Wildlifeps.org](mailto:Armitage_Hux@Wildlifeps.org)
> 
> Dr. Solo,  
>  I have forwarded your inquiries on to a specialist who is currently working in the field. Perhaps Dr. Sliver would be able to lend a hand on these fascinating images.
> 
> Armitage Hux  
>  World Wildlife Preservation Society

Dr. Silver? That name was only slightly familiar. If it was the same biologist he was thinking of, Dr. R. Silver’s claim to fame was their extensive research on the endangered Thala-siren pinnipeds discovered on the remote island of Ahch-To. Ben had read the data collected in the biologist’s comprehensive impact reports and studies of the sea creature’s environment that had been released by the Conservancy. He’d found it particularly humorous that the milk produced by the sea sow was green and edible and had a pleasant taste, and wondered who had been the guinea pig for that bit of collected data.

If he could help it, he would rather not get _that_ up close and personal with nature. The wolves got close enough for his tastes.

Ben’s grant from Coruscant University kept him supplied and afloat year after year in the hostile environment of Hoth. Equipment and rations. Computers and satellite Internet. Warm clothes. He hated living on the edge of the ice wastes. Hated the cold. Hated the snow. Hated the wolves that pissed on his cabin porch all hours of the night. Hated the stench they left behind.

Sometimes concessions had to be made for one’s peace of mind.

It was peace of mind that kept him toiling and surviving all by himself in a forgotten corner of the world.

What did he do? Climate studies. Here was a year end conclusion for the scientific journals, _Hoth:_ _It’s kriffing cold._

It wasn’t all he did. Environmental studies. Impact studies. Biology studies. Biodiversity. Wildlife studies. Sample collections. Anything to do with the biological sciences relating to this horrid other-world. The university sent packets for particular data collection on migratory arctic birds, and requested other studies that interested their donors. He sat in front of a computer all day recording observations and drawing up conclusions. He checked his trail cams and made random drone flights over the wastes when the weather was suitable.

He had to take particular care of himself out in the cold. His body rejected it so vehemently. Perhaps he should have picked studies on a remote deserted island as Dr. R. Silver had done. An island surely wouldn’t have offered only sub-zero temps twentyfour-seven, three-sixty five. 

The one truly beautiful thing in Hoth were the polar lights. Some nights he’d bundle up with every snowsuit and coat and hat and gloves and scarf in his possession. He had to change the battery packs for the camera every few shots with a warm one from his inner pocket. The cold drained the power so quickly. Just like it drained him.

It was too bad he hated the cold or his station would be perfect. The lights, however, almost made his time in the north worthwhile.

Α • β • Ω

> Sun, Dec 27 at 6:03 AM  
>  To: [ b.solo.wb@CorU.net  
>  ](mailto:b.solo.wb@CorU.net) Subject: Extinct?  
>  From: [ SilverR@ConservancyProg.org  
>  ](mailto:SilverR@ConservancyProg.org)
> 
> Dr. Solo,  
>  I was given your information via Mr. Hux of the WWP. The images included offer compelling evidence for further study. What more can you tell me about the photos?
> 
> R. Silver  
>  The Conservancy Project

>   
>  Sun, Dec 27 at 10:37 AM  
>  To: [ SilverR@ConservancyProg.org  
>  ](mailto:SilverR@ConservancyProg.org) Subject: Re: Extinct?  
>  From: [ b.solo.wb@CorU.net  
>  ](mailto:b.solo.wb@CorU.net)
> 
> Silver,  
>  The old scans of the specimens were captured on film some 40 years ago by members of my family. It was a life and death type of situation that warranted the slaughter of these mammals. There have been no further reports of Wampa or Tauntaun in the area since the photos were taken.  
>    
>  The aerial shots on the Ice Wastes were snapped 3 weeks ago. As you can see, there is a bloody kill in the foreground. Detail cannot reveal what sort of prey, but my best guess is a goat or a calf from one of the farms located around Echo Base. This does not appear to be the work of a pack of wolves.
> 
> In subsequent aerial images you can see a figure moving away from the kill. Large. Swift moving. Note the angles of the shadow cast.
> 
> I am not equipped for extended forays into the Ice Wastes. Drone technology is the best I can do in these conditions.
> 
> Are you interested in taking on this study?
> 
> Thank you for your time,  
>  Dr. Solo  
>  Clabburn Range Research Post  
>  Coruscant University

> Sun, Dec 31 at 12:59 PM  
>  To: [ b.solo.wb@CorU.net  
>  ](mailto:b.solo.wb@CorU.net) Subject: On my way  
>  From: [ SilverR@ConservancyProg.org  
>  ](mailto:SilverR@ConservancyProg.org)
> 
> Dr. Solo,  
>  I have completed my research project on Ahch-To and funding is available to begin on conservation of another endangered species. I will arrive at Echo Base in a week. I look forward to working with you.
> 
> R. Silver  
>  The Conservancy Project

What! No! No no no no! Ben wanted R. Silver to take _over_ the whole project. With their own team. In their own research post. Far away from him. He did not wish to be involved. At all.

> Sun, Dec 31 at 1:13 PM  
>  To: [ SilverR@ConservancyProg.org  
>  ](mailto:SilverR@ConservancyProg.org) Subject: Re: On my way  
>  From: [ b.solo.wb@CorU.net ](mailto:b.solo.wb@CorU.net)
> 
> Silver,  
>  I think there has been some misunderstanding. I do not wish to continue on the Wampa Project. I have my own research to pursue. Do not come to Clabburn Range.
> 
> Please.  
>    
>  Dr. Solo  
>  Clabburn Range Research Post  
>  Coruscant University

The New Year broke, mind-numbingly cold and blustery. Blizzards every day. Ben kept his generators running and the snow cleared off his solar panels. He checked his email every minute he wasn’t working out of doors for a return response from R. Silver.

There was nothing. Not even a follow-up.

He had to make himself stop chewing on his fingernails before they became bloody and raw. Ben knew nothing about R. Silver. Not their age, sex, designation…

A chill went down his spine. He couldn’t chance someone in his personal space. It would be dangerous. And where would this person stay? In the dead of a brutal Hothian winter? Not his cabin! Not on Clabburn Range!

He’d needed a profession where his interaction with other demi-humans was rare. No matter how much he loathed the place, Hoth’s remote location at the edge of the ice plains was ideal for him. He had no interaction with any living person aside from the locals. The Anoat natives he’d encountered at Echo Base were all born as Betas. Ben never picked up a trace of anything but their calming scents when he went to pick up supplies. There weren’t many of them in the area and being among them once a month was easy. 

If this R. Silver person was coming to Hoth, he didn’t know what would happen when they arrived.

Α • β • Ω


	2. Chapter 2

Α • β • Ω

_ The stench of the Alpha unnerved him. Upset him. Put him on his defenses. Made him want to run. But he knew he couldn’t run. If he ran, he would be chased. Didn’t want to be chased. Didn’t want to be caught. The Alpha would catch him. _

_ Breath on his neck. _

_ Teeth on his neck. _

_ He whimpered. A sad, bleak sound, even to his own ears. _

Ben jolted awake panting. Heaving. Heart pounding. He sat up and held his head in his hands, folding until his elbows hit his knees.

He hated that dream. It was the worst dream. It left him cold and weak and trembling.

Nightmares plagued his sleep since R. Silver’s last email. He’d sent one more desperate message pleading for them not to come.

Ben scrubbed his hands over his face, noting that his skin felt dry. His hair hung long and limp around his shoulders. The sparse goatee that grew at his chin and upper lip had also gotten a little shaggy. There was still a slight tremble in his hands.

R. Silver’s impending arrival had drastically upset the delicate balance of his own personal ecosystem.

He would send them away if they did show up at Clabburn Range. He would tell them they had come to the wrong place. He would lie. He would chase them off with his shotgun if he had to.

Ben curled up again on his heated bed. It had been a purchase he’d splurged on. For him, a necessity and a lifesaver. There would have been no way for him to sleep comfortably in the midst of a land of sub-zero temps.

His stomach grumbled for breakfast, but he had no desire to leave his comfortable blankets. It was warm there. Warm and safe. Smelled good and safe.

For every birthday, his mother mailed him fresh, new blankets. The softest blankets. He had a good collection and he loved them. He kept them all close. Touched them often. They lulled him.

Strange noises wormed their way to his ears under his blankets. Distant.  _ Yap. Yip. _ Barking. Bells clanking. He shot up in bed. Horripilations trilled across his skin. Sled dogs. Sled dogs were approaching.

The sled dogs would be bringing someone to his cabin.

He scrambled to a window, knocking over books and stacks of blankets and clothes. Something else fell over behind him in his mad rush. He pulled back the black-out curtain to the tiny portal. Even with his eyeball pressed to the double-paned, energy efficient glass, he didn’t have the correct angle to see the sled’s approach.

He jammed his feet into snow pants and boots and grabbed two thermal shirts. A scarf—his favorite, thick and heavy, made of some kind of material that slipped across the pads of his sensitive fingers like a decadent silk. He found a toque next and covered his head. Then his heavy, quilted winter coat. He reached for the door.

Gloves! He needed gloves. He was shaking so badly he couldn’t get his fingers into the right holes.

He smashed his nose trying to pull protective mirrored goggles over his toque.

The shotgun was over the door. He hesitated when he reached for it. The muscles in his arms ground to a painful halt and cemented him in place.  _ Act in haste, repent at leisure… behind bars. _ He couldn’t do that. Dangerous. Very dangerous.

He cracked open the door and peered out at the blinding landscape. Sunlight reflecting off the snowpack hurt his eyes. Made it impossible to see.

The sled team of dogs, big and thick-coated like wolves, happily yipped and tugged their burden through icy powder. In these unpredictable Hothian conditions, sometimes dogs were the better means of travel. Ben had a snowmobile and a few other all-terrain vehicles locked up in his shed. All of them hated the cold like he did.

There was one blanket-covered passenger riding at the fore of the sled. The musher was navigating aft; a familiar Anoat man who often made deliveries for Ben. The main sled had another drag sled trailing, loaded with boxes and crates. The passenger waved in his direction. The person was hardly wearing appropriate snow gear, only short sleeves! A T-shirt? How? They didn't seem to mind the cold air rushing at them.

Then he heard it.

That voice.

Warm and husky and accented. Female. Talking to the musher. Praising the dogs. Laughing as she jumped to her feet once the dogs came to a stop. Athletically built. Thick but not fat. Tall. Long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. As she chatted with the musher, that husky tone of her voice fluttered against his eardrums. Ben stared in awe, feeling the strangest burst of heat low in his belly—highly at odds with his cold nature.

Perhaps he was only amazed she could tolerate the cold so well. The temp was 25 below zero. There was ice already forming around the fur of his coat hood. His goatee would start growing ice crystals soon.

The newcomers began to unpack the sled, setting crates and bags off in the snow. Ben stepped to the edge of his smelly porch, careful of the frost and ice.

“I told you not to come,” he hollered across the drifts.

Her attention snapped directly to him. He could feel her eyes take measure of him behind her mirrored shades. He backed off immediately, turning slightly to the side, shifting on his feet. Her long legs stomped through the deep snow drifts until she was in front of him. She dipped her head, nostrils flaring.

“What is that terrible smell?”

“The wolves. They relieve themselves on my porch every night. This is my Hell.”

She laughed and Ben’s gut definitely warmed. She whipped her goggles from her head and smiled up at him.

“I’m Rey Silver from The Conservancy Project. Are you Dr. Solo?”

Ben was struck dumb by her smile. Her ungloved hand came up. She wished to shake. The pleasantry was a nearly forgotten one to him. He stared at her hand, strong tapered fingers, slightly pink from the cold. He finally brought his hand up and she enthusiastically latched their grips together. The tips of his polar fleece lined gloves hit her at the wrist.

“How are you not freezing?” he asked.

“I’m hot natured and this temperature feels great after years on a hot and humid island. It’s like paradise to me.” She finally let his hand go.

Over the stench of wolf piss, Ben’s nose caught a new smell. Sudden and intoxicating. He raised his glove. Sniffed. A combination of oranges and jasmine, spicy sandalwood and patchouli. The scent burned in the sweetest way, burrowing into his cells, snapping his hindbrain to attention.

_ Impossible. _

He stumbled backward into his frost-covered front door. He tried not to breathe any more of that delectable scent.  _ Stopstopstop. _

“Are you okay?” She frowned up at him, taking a step up on the porch.

_ No. Get away. Get away. He had to get away. _

He whipped his door open and tried to slink back into his cabin.

“Wait,” she said, placing her boot between the door and his escape. “What’s the mat—”

She stopped talking completely. Her mouth was open. Her nostrils flared. Her eyes grew larger and darker as her chest lifted with quick, hungry breaths.

This close, he could smell her better. See her better. She smelled so good. She was so big and strong and pretty. He involuntarily swayed closer to her.

_ She knows. _ She had to know, now, what he was. He knew what she was. He still couldn’t believe it.

A female Alpha.

How? He’d never heard of a female having an Alpha designation. It didn’t happen. She shouldn’t exist. 

Just like he shouldn’t exist.

He had to get her away from him.

“I told you not to come,” he said in a broken, breathless whisper. Now he wouldn’t be able to send her away. He wouldn’t be able to lie to her. Wouldn’t be able to chase her off.

It was much too late. She was here. She had scented him. She squared her strong shoulders and pressed closer. She said the one thing he hated more than the cold. The one word he hated more than anything.

“Omega.”

Α • β • Ω


	3. Chapter 3

Α • β • Ω

“Don’t call me that.”

Rey blinked. Momentary madness had sidelined her good sense. What the Hell? What in the bloody karking Hell had just happened to her?

She blinked again and focused on the man trying to get away from her. Saw a horrifically distorted version of herself reflected in his mirrored goggles. He was scared. Pale with fear. High above the acrid notes of wolf urine, she could smell it. Fear smelled. Smelled worse than Dr. Solo’s porch.

He was scared of her.

Ashamed, Rey removed her boot from between the door and the frame. Opened her mouth to apologize.

Solo slammed the iced-over door in her face before she could get the words out.

Mouth still agape, Rey took another step back. His door cracked open again, but only for a second, and only wide enough for him to throw something at her. Rey startled back when a pair of gloves hit her square in the face.

“Hey!” she growled, ready to retaliate against such rude behavior. But the scent… she stuck the opening of a glove to her nose. _Holy shit._ She hadn’t imagined it. Like bergamot. Like lemongrass. The gloves had been laying against the scent glands at his wrists. She caught her own scent on the glove he’d used to shake her hand with. The glands at her own wrists tingled at the memory.

He’d thrown the gloves away. Strange behavior.

In another life, Rey had understood the value of scavenged finds. She cradled the gloves under her arm.

“I’m keeping these,” she shouted at the door.

Rude little Omega. Shut the door in _her_ face, huh? Then she cringed at her thoughts. Not her thoughts. Hindbrained Alpha thoughts.

Rey turned to the yard and saw that her ride was currently retracing their steps back to Echo Base. It took two hours to sled all the way out to Dr. Solo’s cabin.

No matter. She would stay. As rare a chance it was to discover a new species in this wide world, Rey had already made an even rarer discovery.

A male Omega.

Her mouth watered. She shivered, but not from the cold.

She had a good look at the surroundings of Clabburn Range. It was as desolate as the deserts of Jakku. The far horizon refracted light, making false silver lakes in the distance. The same optical illusion happened on both the frozen ice wastes and the hot desert sands.

It was that same silver lining from which Rey took her name. A professional pseudonym. Rey Silver.

She had liked the sound of it.

Rey found silver linings no matter where she went. Hoth’s bounty promised to be the most priceless of all. Home to the rarest of jewels. And he was just behind a door that smelled of piss.

Wampa or no Wampa, Rey was going to stake her claim on the delicious smelling Omega.

_No. Stop that. You’re better than that._

Rey took in a huge gulp of the frozen air. Bracing. Invigorating. And still slightly scented with an aroma she wanted to coat herself in. It supercharged latent senses that she’d never put to use. Her instincts knew exactly what he was, though she’d never scented an Omega in her life. The scant research available on demi-humans proved that designations never manifested outside of the natural order. Men and women made up the majority of the world’s population as Betas. If Alphas presented, they were always male. If Omegas presented, they were always female.

Rey was an anomaly. An incompatible anomaly with 99.99% of the known world’s population. Another Alpha may have made a suitable mate for her, but demi-humans were rarer and rarer these days. She’d never met an Alpha that she would have wanted to mate with. Betas, well, she was honestly afraid she’d hurt a Beta if she were to have intercourse with one.

The only fruitful demi-human mates were Alpha males paired with Omega females.

In Rey’s case, she would only be able to conceive with an Omega male in heat. If procreation was an endeavor she would want to pursue.

Dr. Solo may be the only Omega male in existence. A biological divergence. Just like her.

Rey shoved his gloves into her pocket and stomped back to her supplies. She had a tent. She had a cookstove. She had everything she needed to survive in the wilds of Hoth. And the cold was just icing on her little cake.

Something deep inside her, primal and fierce, relished the challenge of winning its mate. This was a chance she could not let pass her by.

Dr. Solo didn’t know it yet, but he was as good as claimed.

Α • β • Ω

Ben stared at the tent set up in his yard amongst the snow drifts. He’d spent a portion of the night staring at it through the tiny portal window. He had wanted her to leave and to leave him alone.

But he was secretly pleased she had stayed, though he hated to admit it.

He scratched at his neck. _Female Alpha. Pretty. Smelled pretty._

His thoughts were haywire. Not at all orderly nor coherent. _Nor wanted._ Not when he thought about her.

She was a danger to him. What if she wished to take him away and study him like some creature newly discovered? Put him in a lab? Run tests? She was dangerous.

How did she survive in a world where she shouldn’t exist? Did she spend all her time on remote islands milking sea sows?

He narrowed his eyes. Probable.

Ben sipped on a hot tea and kept staring out the window to see if he could catch any movement. He’d cleared a space in his room, restacking all his belongings in a corner so he could have unhindered access to the window. A portal not even four inches high and twelve inches wide. He didn’t want full sized windows when he’d had the cabin fabricated. Kept the heat inside. Not easily broken.

Safe.

He tightened the blanket around his shoulders. Stroked it with his fingertips. Shivered.

_Alpha likes the cold. She’s probably warm. Warm to the touch. What would it be like to touch her warmth?_

No! No. No touching.

She needed to leave. She would expose him. He’d hidden himself away so well in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t want to be mated to a male Alpha. He didn’t want that. Only male Alphas existed…

Ben set his tea down. She was an Alpha. His skin tingled. She. _Shesheshe._

He didn’t… Didn’t know if he could handle that yet. She was a threat. He didn’t know her. Maybe he was mistaken. Maybe his instincts were totally off. How was he to verify what his instincts seemed to already take for granted?

_Big pretty Alpha. Warm. Smelled so nice._

Stop.

He peered out of the tiny window again. The wind battered her tent. Her fault. He didn’t invite her to come. Must be cold in that tent. He wondered if she had a blanket.

Well, she couldn’t have any of his!

He blushed at the uncharitable thought. It’s just that his blankets were all his special blankets. If she touched them, they’d all smell like Alpha.

_That would be good. A blanket smelling like her. Sleep with it. Yeah._

No!

Rey Silver had obviously awoken something inside him that had been sleeping peacefully and undisturbed in all his twenty-six years. A part of himself that thought without sound reason and focused solely on foolhardy desires. He scratched at his neck. It itched because of her. Scent glands. Scent glands that didn’t seem to exist until she showed up.

His own scent was noticeable. Heightened and perhaps altered. He didn’t know why or for what purpose, unless it was frustration with the woman camping outside in the snow.

She was a disruption to his peace and his research.

_A big pretty disruption. Bring her inside. Show her your nest. Sleep in it._

He growled at the voice in his head. It was getting louder and more obnoxious. And scary.

The polar lights were on full display for his Alpha if she was awake enough to watch them. Blurry ribbons of green and pink tendrils swirling softly through the clear night sky, sometimes silent and sometimes gently humming their eerie melody. Their glitz and glitter was more brilliant than the stars. The stars could only mope behind the gorgeous lights with their own pitiful twinkling from billions of lightyears away.

But there would be no polar lights without the heavenly bodies that supported them.

_Alpha has a heavenly body. Big and strong and warm._

“Shut up!” he cried. He pounded his palms against his skull. 

When he lifted his gaze to the window again, Alpha was standing outside her tent, looking at his cabin.

Ben jetted back to his bed and dove under his mountain of blankets. She didn’t see him looking out at her. She couldn’t have seen him.

She pounded on the door only moments later.

 _No no no._ “Go away!”

A muffled response, “I heard you shout.”

He stuck his head out of the blanket pile. “Just go away. Please.”

“When the sun rises, you and I are having a conversation,” she yelled.

_Let her in now. She’ll sleep in the nest. Warm and pretty._

He whimpered. The voice in his head was determined to drive him insane, no matter how right it was.

Α • β • Ω

Dr. Solo was already standing on his porch when Rey left her tent the next morning. Covered in bulky winter wear from head to toe, eyes covered, once again, by mirrored goggles. Rey wanted to see more of him than his gear revealed.

“You keep the wolves away,” was his morning greeting.

Rey had a sniff when she approached the porch. No fresh urine.

“Marking their territory,” she said with a frown. Marking her Omega’s cabin as their own. Not anymore.

Dr. Solo exhaled in a rush and sucked in a little breath. He wouldn’t face her fully. Wouldn’t raise his head. She wanted to see his eyes. When she stepped closer, he retreated. She stopped, even though she didn’t want to.

“I emailed you back. I said not to come here. Didn’t you get it?” he asked.

“No. I don’t spend a lot of time in areas with Internet access. You wanted a second on this project. Your evidence was compelling. I had the time. I came.”

His breath shuddered out of him. “Are you really an Alpha? Am I imagining this in my mind? I don’t know what to think.” He reached up and grabbed his head. He shook it like he was having some kind of difficulty.

Her Omega was in distress. Smelled like the bergamot had burned. A sooty smell that put her on immediate guard.

“Let’s go inside and talk,” she suggested.

“No! I don’t want you in my cabin.”

“Why not? If we’re to work together—”

“I don’t want your Alpha stink on all my things and in my space.”

She bristled. Well, that’s kriffing rude.

He turned around and wiped his gloved hands down the front of his snow gear; a tense, frustrated gesture.

“You don’t stink. I’m sorry,” he said in a small voice.

Placated for the moment, she crunched her boot down in the crusty snow. “Dr. Solo, can we please talk face to face without goggles and snow gear? Is that too much to ask? I’ve come all this way to help you.”

He only slightly turned her way. Hung his head. He sighed hard.

Defeat for him, victory for her.

It did not taste sweet.

“Give me a minute. Please.”

She would give him all the time he needed. “Sure. I’ll wait.”

Rey turned up her face to the weak sunlight while Dr. Solo went inside. The sky was overcast. A stark contrast from the cloudless blue of the previous day. She wondered if that meant a snow storm was coming. She could smell a cold, fresh scent on the air.

After several minutes, Dr. Solo cracked the door to his cabin open. She stepped carefully across the icy porch. The rush of heat and decadent Omega scent nearly knocked her over before she got her hand on the doorknob.

_Oh, boy. Oh, wow. Shit. Shit._

Sweat beaded on her upper lip when she slipped inside and closed the door. She pressed her back against it. Let it hold her up as her lungs absorbed greedy breaths of Dr. Solo’s cabin. She felt electrified like a live wire humming with power pumping through it. Humming like those polar lights from last night. She closed her eyes and let the brewing storm settle inside her. She didn’t want to distress Dr. Solo any more than she already had.

“What’s your name?” she asked, still trying to gather her wits.

Ears attuned to his location, her head tilted in his direction when he murmured, “Ben.”

He shuffled his feet. He was not comfortable with her in his space.

She was afraid she would not be able to leave it.

She finally swallowed back all the saliva populating her mouth and forced herself to calm.

The space was cluttered. A small kitchen. Cluttered home office. A work table with notebooks and pens and notepads. Farther back, shelves filled to overflowing. Stacks of books and piles of folded blankets. A large bed with more blankets. There was space above her head that held more storage.

And Ben in front of her.

She swallowed hard seeing him for the first time. His black hair was long and unkempt. Skin pale, a long scar slashed across the right side of his face. He wore a bulky sweater, sleeves pushed to the elbows, but he was thin. Too thin. Frail.

Her instincts dialed her back immediately. Her Omega was not well cared for.

_Take care of him. Nourish him back to health._

He did not raise his eyes to hers. While her inner Alpha recognized the sign of submission, her heart and soul mourned that he wouldn’t make that connection with her. Even when she shifted to catch his line of sight, he countered the movement, carefully avoiding direct eye contact.

“Omega, look at me.”

An undeniable command. Ben trembled. Eyelashes fluttered. He finally raised his eyes, half shaded by the shaggy, coal-black mane of hair falling across his brow.

The color of his eyes reminded her of mint tea. A light brown of varying shades. The whites contrasted so brightly beneath rich dark lashes. Even the shape of his eyes gave away his utter discomfort. Like it hurt him to look at her.

“I asked you not to call me that.”

Rey immediately regretted her command. She was used to getting what she wanted. But she’d never encountered an Omega before. She couldn’t shake the deeply ingrained instinct to dominate. _Dominate him._

She shook herself. _Too much. Not good. Not her own thoughts._

 _No, your_ true _self._

“I’m sorry, Ben. I… I don’t wish to make you uncomfortable. We can work together as equals, can we not?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s possible.” He angled his shoulders away.

She crossed the space between them and reached for his arm. As soon as her fingers made contact with his exposed skin, he groaned and his skin rippled and pebbled with goosebumps. He was cold to the touch. She slid her hand more fully around his arm, feeling it warm, catching the flaring scent of citrus and bergamot.

“I’ll stay in my tent outside so you’ll be more comfortable. We can make this work. I’ve studied the data you sent. I want to help with your research. But I’ll do my best to respect your space. Will that work for you?”

“You’ll freeze out there, especially when it turns cold again,” he said, strained, like he was trying to hold his breath. His eyes didn’t rise past where her hand was on his arm.

“I run pretty hot. I think I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m no stranger to rough conditions.”

He nodded once. Quick. When she took her hand away, he followed her with his arm. Reluctant to part. He halted with a small noise and backed up. Yanked his sleeves down.

Rey watched it all with eager eyes. Fascinated. _Sweet little Omega._

“When was the last time you ate, Ben?”

She may have come to Hoth to forge new scientific horizons, but she was staying for purely personal reasons.

Α • β • Ω


	4. Chapter 4

Α • β • Ω

Control was a strange and highly elusive beast. Ben had struggled with it for many years. It was difficult for him to take complete control of his life, but to stay safe and hidden, he’d had to make some drastic, hard choices at a young age. Agonizing choices.

He’d learned to live alone. Away from caring parents. Away from the knowledge that he would wake up any given morning and all would be well. He’d had to learn independence. The cost of that independence was bruising loneliness in the worst place on earth.

But he was safe from those who would have taken him against his will.

That’s why the Alpha’s presence in his cabin was so disconcerting. _Big, pretty Alpha girl._ His inner Omega had no problem at all with her being there. The Omega in him wanted to open his arms wide and invite her to discover all his secrets. To bring her to his nest. _Made it for me, made it for her. Let her see it!_

Ben sat at the tiny dining table and cradled his head in his hands, his fingers were threaded into his hair. He couldn’t get the feel of her hand on his skin out of his mind. The simple touch had been heavenly. Warm and wonderful. He wanted her to touch him again.

It had been so long since he’d even been hugged. Years since he’d had contact with another.

He wouldn’t let himself trust her just because she smelled good and his inner deviant kept prodding him to _give her whatever she wants._

Her consideration of his feelings and her compromise was suitable. Respectful, even. He had to recognize that quality in his Alpha.

He wasn’t so sure, however, about her food. Ben could cook, and liked to cook, but cooking for himself just for sustenance was a chore. He went for easy and accessible ration packs. Meal bars. Usually that meant nutritional value was sacrificed.

And some days he didn’t feel like eating. His stomach had withered and shrunk. He’d lost weight. Some days he didn’t feel like bothering. Some days it was too much. All too much.

He knew he couldn’t eat the plate of food she’d put in front of him. He’d rather smell her than scrambled eggs. 

“I was on Ahch-To for four and a half years,” she started, putting eggs on a plate for herself. “No eggs. No bread. Enough seafood to stock a fish stick factory.” She sat down on the opposite side of the table, facing him. “I hate fish.”

Ben stared at her lips.

“When I got back to the mainland last week, I treated myself to all the nerfburgers and hubba chips I could eat. It was glorious.” She smiled, and dimples popped up on her rounded cheeks. She took the ancient salt that had been crusting over on his dining table for years and sprinkled it on her eggs. She dropped the shaker in front of his plate when she was through with it.

He continued to watch her mouth as she forked in her meal.

“You’re not eating.”

He grunted. “Not hungry.”

She paused, full attention centered on him pointedly for several long seconds. He squirmed. Felt his face get hot. He picked up the salt shaker and haphazardly slung a few sprinklings over his plate.

“Hoth has a different feel than Ahch-To. The silence is odd. There was always the sound of the ocean or wildlife calling out on the island. That’s how we found out sea sow milk was edible; one had lost its young to a predator. It sat on the rocky island shore pining and bellowing non-stop. We had no peace while she mourned. My assistant for that weekend decided to take matters into his own hands and help the old sow out. He approached her and relieved her swollen udder. The sow immediately calmed and he collected the milk while palpating her.”

Ben’s attention sharpened. She had assistants? How close were they to her? His eyes finally locked onto hers of their own accord for the first time.

“Who?” he asked in an eerily calm voice. 

“That was Poe Dameron.” She smiled. “Absolutely fearless. Good instincts.”

She was smiling while thinking of someone else. He didn’t like it. Didn’t like Poe Dameron. Didn’t like that some other person spent time with his Alpha.

“Is that your friend? Your… your boyfriend? Your mate?” he finished with an uncharacteristic growl, while on the inside, his Omega whimpered.

“Eat.” She pointed her fork at his plate.

Ben smashed his lips together and grabbed his fork. He stabbed at the eggs. Shoved them all in his mouth without tasting and swallowed them down. He snapped the fork back onto the table and met her eyes square on again.

“Did you mate Poe Dameron?” he asked crisply.

“How long have you been here?” she countered instead of answering. 

He shrugged, not happy. “Years.”

“How old are you?”

She wouldn’t answer his question. It hurt. Hurt him. He slumped and returned his gaze to the tabletop. “Twenty-six.”

“I’m almost seven years older than you. How much do you know about the demi-human population?”

He clenched his jaws together. “That Alphas claim Omegas against their will. Only men are Alpha. I don’t want to be mated to a man.”

“I’m an Alpha. Just like your instincts told you. Did someone try to claim you against your will?”

He shifted in his seat. Nodded quick. Swallowed hard. 

“Did they succeed?”

Ben put both his hands on his neck and covered his glands. Pressed gently. He remembered the fight he had put up. It had been a wild and desperate scrap. He had fought so hard with every fiber of his being.

He remembered gripping the ski pole. The cold metal in his hand. His face bleeding. The Alpha had cut him during the fight. Marked him. Nearly had his teeth on Ben’s neck. Ben had done what he had to. To protect himself.

“He’s dead now.”

Rey pulled his left hand away from his neck. Touching. Touching him again. A sound of yearning escaped his mouth. Her warm fingertips slid over his wrist. All manner of shocking sensations zipped across his skin at her touch. 

“Please.” Soundless. Desperate. He leaned across the table so she could have more of him. 

Their scents mingled sweetly. He was fast growing addicted to her hand on his arm. Her thumb swept across the sensitive gland and his whole body jerked in reaction. All thoughts of the bad Alpha and his jealousy dissipated.

_Lick it. Oh, please lick it._

He unconsciously lifted his wrist higher. Strained to reach it to her mouth.

_Alpha will like it. Let her have it._

She only pulsed the pad of her thumb gently over the gland. Made him rest his arm on the table. He calmed. The voice in his head calmed. It was easier for him to think clearly. He swallowed and tried to pull away, but she held on. He stayed.

“Tell me about your research here on Clabburn Range.”

And he did.

Α • β • Ω

Later, she went to his shed to tinker with the engine on his snowmobile. She said she was good with mechanical things.

_Good Alpha. Big and pretty and smart. Proud of Alpha._

He crunched his way through the drifts out to the shed after sending off a packet of notes, and found her bent over the side of a 4-wheel ATV. Ben rarely used it this time of year. The snow got too deep for the tires.

Rey had, at last, pulled on something warm, a heather gray thermal shirt that stretched tight over her arms and torso. There were little chubby rolls rippling the tight shirt over the belt of her snow pants. He wanted to ghost his naked fingers over those rolls. She was only a few inches shorter than him when they stood close together in his cabin. But she was stronger. Heavier. Would probably feel like a weighted blanket if she laid on top of him. He wanted her to lay on top of him.

She noticed his presence immediately and looked up at him with a dimpled smile. His eyes fell to her chest. He grew warm looking at the hard peaks of her nipples through the tight shirt.

“I’m going to take the snowmobile into Echo Base.”

He froze, his guard going up. “Why? What are you planning to do?”

She gave him a puzzled glance. “You’re almost out of fuel in your big tank. I’ll take these cans on the tag-along and fill them up. We’ll need plenty once we’re able to explore the wastes with the snowmobile.”

“You won’t tell people where I am? What I am? Please don’t expose me. Please, don’t tell. Please…”

Rey rushed up to him. Hands on his jaws, sliding beneath his hood. Pretty eyes on his. He blinked and tried to look away. She pulled him back. Touching him again. He wanted to rub his face all over her.

“You’re safe with me, Ben. I’ll keep you safe.”

“I don’t know you. Don’t know if I can trust you.” His hands itched to reciprocate her touch.

“You can trust your instincts, right? What do your instincts tell you?”

_Alpha is good. Alpha will take care of you. Alpha will touch you. Big pretty Alpha… So warm and big and pretty. Alpha Alpha Alpha…_

He scrunched his eyelids shut. “You don’t want to know what my instincts keep saying.”

Her electric touch morphed into a caress. His body responded, turning into liquid, melting like the snowpack in Spring. His eyes were her prisoners, locked inside her gaze. He shook slightly. Waiting. Anticipating.

“I want to know.”

His breath left him in a white cloud. His mouth fell open to tell her just exactly what he wanted from her. How he already felt like he could belong to her. How he would _be good for her, be a good, obedient Omega._

But to say it aloud would give her the last shred of control he had in his possession. He needed to hang on to it for just a little while longer. He could already feel it slipping away. Could easily hand it over to her. Maybe he even wanted to.

_Just do it. Give Alpha everything._

“Not yet?” he begged, stepping just out of her reach. He mourned the loss of her hands on his face. Those places that had grown so warm, cooled quickly. But her scent stayed with him.

There was no judgement from her. No condemnation in her gaze. Only ready acceptance. Patience. He breathed a little easier. A lot easier. In that moment, he let himself be comfortable in her presence.

“Do you want to ride with me to Echo Base?” she asked.

And be cold and miserable?

“I’ll drive,” she said.

And be smashed up against her for the hour ride to Echo Base, and the hour back?

_Yes, please._

“I’ll ride with you,” he agreed.

They prepped the snowmobile and the tag-along and strapped down the fuel cans. Supply runs were tedious and took so much time to accomplish, but with another set of hands, it was quick work and almost enjoyable.

Rey put on a toque and gloves and goggles and refused a coat. He still marveled at her ability to withstand the cold. He watched her adjust the key and flip up the kill switch. Then she grabbed the pull start, and with a powerful torquing tug, the snowmobile growled to life on her first try.

Ben found that an utter turn-on.

_Alpha is so strong._

Rey sat in the forward position and gripped the handlebars. She gave the throttle a little pulse and tipped her head at him, indicating that he get on behind her.

Ben stepped up on the sled and slung his right leg over the seat. His snowsuit was thick, but his thighs gripping her hips was a magical feeling. He slowly circled his arms around her stout middle. Scooched forward until there was no space between them.

“Hold on tight while I learn how to drive this thing,” she said with a laugh.

And they were off.

She was a quick study and he was quickly learning that his body really liked feeling her bounce against him on the level trail. He fitted his face in between her neck and shoulder. His lips were inches away from touching the gland on the right side of her neck. He snuffled deep draws of her scent. His cock grew so hard he was afraid she could feel it through all his clothes. Each shake and vibration, along with her heated body in his arms, drove him to the edge of orgasm.

He must have whimpered and moved in a way that alerted her to what was happening behind her. She stiffened and slowed the snowmobile. Came to a stop.

Ben was doing his best not to work himself against her ass. She grabbed his hand and turned to look at him, whipping her goggles off.

“Are you aroused?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

He bit his lip and shifted his hips back in the seat to put some space between them.

“You are, aren’t you?”

He hung his head and could only give her a limp nod. His hands had loosened at her sides, but he hadn’t released her. He rubbed his gloved hands over the thickest part of her waist, wishing there was nothing between them. Wishing that they were in his nest of blankets.

“If you come now, you’re going to have to sit in it until we get back to the cabin. We may be gone a few hours.”

“I’m so close,” he groaned.

“You’re going to wait,” she said with a hard glint in her eye, “until we get back to the cabin.”

All protest died on his lips.

When she turned back to driving the snowmobile, Ben did not think about the hard-on crammed against her backside. His Alpha had issued a command. He would obey it.

Α • β • Ω


	5. Chapter 5

Α • β • Ω

Ben’s nose was burned up with the smell of fuel by the time they’d transferred their filled cans to the tank back on Clabburn Range. He was irritated and itchy and cold and uncomfortable. He wanted a shower. Wanted to wash the fuel smells from his clothes and hair. He couldn’t wait to get into his heated cabin and warm up his icy body.

Once the last can was stored away, Ben made tracks to his house. He stripped off his gear and put the kettle on to boil. Stripped off the rest of his clothes and threw everything into the laundry tub and tossed in washing powder and water so it could soak.

He showered only long enough to get clean. The hot water never lasted.

He pulled on his polar fleece pants and shirt he usually slept in after he’d dried himself. He made hot tea.

Only then was his numbed brain able to function.

_Alpha._

He went to the little portal window and looked out at her tent. She had packed down the snow around the front until it was like a circular, walled courtyard. In the middle of her snow yard she had built a fire. Heating her own water. Or cooking. She brought back a box of supplies bought at the general store while he had filled the fuel tanks during their trip to Echo Base. He didn’t ask her what she had purchased. Had been too overwhelmed to speak again.

Rey came out of her tent wearing a fresh set of inadequate clothing for this climate. His cock stood to ramrod-strength attention without any coaxing. That irritable feeling returned. He scratched at his neck and his arms while he stared at her. He remembered her scent and her body pressed against him. Pleasures he had never before enjoyed. Pleasures he would treasure in his memory if they were all he would ever be allowed to have of her.

Alpha wasn’t happy with him. He almost came in his pants while sitting behind her and holding on to her. The most erotic thing that had ever happened to him in his life.

Maybe Alpha didn’t want him like that.

Rey had come to Clabburn Range to work. To research the possibility of bringing a species back from extinction. Ben didn’t want to even find a Wampa. The more he thought about it, the more scared he became of the prospect. Rey, on the other hand, was a top biologist in her field, and most likely relished these sorts of challenges. She took herself and her work seriously.

And Ben had forgotten that. Ben had been as far from professional as a person could get. He’d acted like a wild beast since her arrival. Perhaps he should have just deleted the drone footage he’d taken over the Ice Plains. He should not have told anyone what he’d found. None of this would have happened.

A crushing wave of embarrassment threw him into an immediate depression. He sat down his half-drunk mug of tea and crawled into his heated bed. He arranged the blankets all around himself, just the way he liked, and he curled into a ball and hoped he would die.

Α • β • Ω

Rey knew she should proceed with caution and care. Ben did not fully trust her, but he was undeniably drawn to her. Just as she was drawn to him. He was touch-starved and in a strange place mentally, at war with his instincts and institution. He’d carved out his own limited life all by himself in Hoth, but that had come at the cost of no human interaction. Her presence had been a shock for him. Rey had spent little time in polite society herself, but Ben had even less experience dealing with people face to face.

And, yes, all the tension between them could boil down to their designations. Their wholly compatible designations. Ben was stuck in between fight or flight mode and complete surrender. Rey was equipped for all three scenarios. Fight? Bring it on, her Alpha would relish it. Flight? Alpha was strong and fast and he wouldn’t get away. Surrender? A surge of something fierce and protective reared up inside her. Yes, Alpha liked that.

She had only a sketchy picture of the elements Ben had been exposed to in his life. He was a creature on the run and in hiding. Capricious, but that could be a common characteristic among all Omegas, of which she knew very little. She did not want to put him under too powerful a microscope, as she had not experienced his troubles and cares, but there was so much to observe.

He needed to take better care of himself. Malnourished. Lonely. She recognized that her time and energies would be best spent seeking his good, and the Alpha in her agreed wholeheartedly, willing to set aside baser desires.

He would be hers for the taking, but what would it cost him if she took without thought? She would rather be careful with that little Omega who had dealt with such hard things in his life. He needed to grow to trust her. Trust was not something she could command of him. She would only do what Ben needed her to do. She wanted to totally respect his space, because he was terrified of Alphas. She didn't want him to be terrified. Especially not of her.

He’d been in a mood since their trek into Echo Base. She’d made him stop dry humping her because she was on the verge of pulling over on the trail and stripping him from his snow gear so she could relieve his cock with her mouth.

As enjoyable as that would have been, she understood how much he hated the cold. She would much rather put her mouth on him when he was warm and content and safe in his bed.

Once they’d returned, Ben had remained sullen and taciturn. He disappeared into his cabin as soon as the fuel had been stored. 

Rey felt it necessary to give him space. But she also worried that he wasn’t going to eat a proper dinner. She didn’t need to mother him, but she cared. She cared a great deal already and she cared deeply for that sassy Omega.

She shifted the box of produce onto her hip and knocked on the cabin door. He didn’t answer.

She pushed her way inside and was greeted by a heavy wall of his delightful scent. Really heavy. His scent had strengthened, compounded. Rey was panting by the time she took one step inside to his tiny kitchen and sat the box down.

Blinking hard, she twisted her neck side to side, stretching it, trying to relieve a sudden onset of pressure. Her shirt and pants became instant irritants.

“Ben? Where are you?” she called out, struggling to form words around the deluge of saliva flooding her mouth.

A muffled moan came from farther inside the cabin. Rey’s move toward the mountain of blankets on the bed was hesitant. Something was happening. He had not invited her into his sanctuary. Had very distinctly tried to deny her entrance into his cabin altogether. 

Swallowing back more spit, she wiped her sweating hands down the front of her pants. She was being drawn to that bed. He was there. Waiting.

“Ben?” she asked again, closer.

Her heart beat faster. Sweating now. She reached for the blankets.

A naked arm shot out of the top of the pile. Patted around like it was looking for something. Long, blunt-tipped fingers fisted a soft blanket, released it. Petted it. Rey couldn’t stop herself. She touched him. Gentle fingers on clammy skin. He froze at the contact. She caressed his knuckles, the back of his hand, soft and slow.

He shifted under that pile. Heard him making muffled noises. She focused on that hand. Stroking it. Petting it. Tracing the veins. Focus was tight. Focus was everything. Wrist. Sharp bones. Fine baby arm hairs. Thickest part of the forearm. The end.

Rey swallowed and a long breath rumbled from her. Began peeling back layers of blankets. Hundreds of them. No rush. Just loads of that fascinating scent. More upper arm was revealed. Shoulder. Neck. Black hair plastered to sweat-dampened cheekbones. Dark circles under eyes. Black, black eyes. Wide. Staring up at her. Fat tears rolling out of the corners.

Rey blinked. She touched his arm again and he began to sob.

She murmured soft words as she ghosted her hand over the wiry muscles of his arm. Consoling words. Nonsense words. Words that had no coherent structure. Words that were meant to comfort.

_So upset, little love. I’m here. I’ll ease it._

Words that came out more like purring than talking.

“Everything hurts,” he finally said.

_Ease his pain._

She wasn’t sure how to do that, but her brain snapped back to reality. She patted his hand and went in search of painkillers in his cabinets.

He sat up in his carefully constructed nest when she brought over a mug of water and a bottle of painkillers. He greedily sucked down all the water. She went back for more. Brought him a piece of expensive fruit she’d bought at Echo Base. Watched him swallow a couple pills. Watched him bite into the lush fruit.

Then she had to leave him. Leave him to rest and sleep. Leave him in peace.

She fled the sweltering cabin and ripped her shirt over her head. Went to a deep snow drift and fell face-first into it. Freezing cold, but instant relief. Snow melted on and around her skin. Steam billowed from her body. She rolled over to ease her heated backside. Gasped for several gulps of frozen air.

She pushed up to her knees, still heaving. _Nope. Still hot._ She fell into an undisturbed part of the drift.

Ben’s scent was stronger now. She could even pick up a hint of it out in the frozen air. Fresh snow would fall tonight, and if her instincts proved correct, that Omega was at the very beginnings of a monumental Heat.

Rey groaned, swallowing back all the spit that kept choking her. His scent was an undeniable call pulsing out over the Ice Wastes. It churned up deeply rooted instincts that wished to take hold of her perfectly functioning brain and steer her into the ditch. If the ditch held lovely, soft, Omega-scented blankets and aching flesh. She smashed her face into the snow again. The hum inside of her was a warning. If she weren’t careful her instincts would turn her into some kind of animal. 

But the scent coming from the Omega in his nest called to her with more power than the rational thinking mind warring with her hindbrain.

They were in trouble.

Α • β • Ω

Rey woke from a light snooze inside her tent. Noises snapped her to attention. Snuffling. A growl. Something heavy in the snow just outside.

She grabbed her torch and unzipped the flap. Another smell assaulted her. Not Omega. Definitely not Omega.

The torchlight dispersed against the heavy falling snow, rendering it ineffective. But there was something out there. She picked up her walking staff and ventured into the night.

Snowfall was fast covering any fresh tracks. But Rey could smell the predator. Another Alpha.

Heart pounding, she circled the cabin. Her Omega was in danger. She caught the scent, impossibly potent, even in the falling snow.

She heard noise at the front of the dark cabin as she came around the corner. She raised her staff.

It was Ben.

Naked.

On the edge of the porch, erect, allowing the falling snow to land and melt on his skin.

“Ben! What are you doing?”

As she approached, he slowly turned his head. His eyes were weird. Wild. Still black, and a bit creepy.

“Alpha,” he whimpered.

“Oh, shit,” Rey whispered. 

He was all alone out there in the midst of nothing and snow. She could smell more predators. The wolves that he said came to his cabin at night, they marked their territory because of him. It was his scent that kept them close. The information burned like coals in her hindbrain. Long dormant instincts that had flickered to life almost as soon as she met Ben.

She needed to protect him.

“Go back inside, Ben. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m afraid I’m about to do something that will scare you. Go back.” She choked on the saliva gathering in her mouth. He smelled so good melting in the snow. Her eyes could almost pick up the heat signature released by his body against the backdrop of the snow-mottled dark. Her senses had heightened since his pheromones had started going haywire. She needed to get far away from that wonderful Omega, but she couldn’t.

Her feet brought her closer.

He gripped his cock and tugged. Cried out as he ejaculated off the porch. _Fast. This was fast. Moving way too fast._

 _Not fast enough,_ her Alpha growled.

Her body was boiling now. Alpha urging her. Preternatural. _Help him. Sate him._

The torch fell from her hand. Landed loudly on the icy boards.

She stood by the door to the cabin and beckoned him. 

He followed, cock still fisted in his hand, wide eyes roaming her body.

They were in so much trouble.

Α • β • Ω

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter count could possibly change. It's outlined. I'm here for fun. Let's leave it at that.


End file.
